Commitment to Clients and Communities

My mission is to help bring new or rehabbed affordable housing to underdeveloped communities, combining a substantial background in real estate transactional work with a long-term interest in commitment to community involvement. I love collaborating with our clients and their developer partners to problem solve and move a transaction to closing in a way that strengthens their relationship. Being able to provide great service to our clients and to use our legal experience in complex transactions to help bring much needed affordable housing to communities makes for a rewarding day at work.

Career Overview

Current Focus:  My practice centers on low-income housing tax credit finance and syndication, together with affordable housing and community development finance. I represent equity investors and syndicators throughout the country. As part of our representation, I advise our clients on all aspects of tax credit transactions including the government financing incentives used in multi-family housing transactions (such as low income housing, historic, and state tax credits, bond financing, and other federal, state and local subsidies) as well as financing from conventional and governmental lenders.

Our clients and their developer partners utilize a variety of funding sources and programs to build, rehabilitate, and operate affordable housing for families, seniors, individuals experiencing homelessness, special needs individuals, and veterans. Representative deals include the conversion of a vacant textile mill to a multi-family housing development located in Massachusetts with both a 4% and 9% component using state and federal low-income housing tax credits and state and local historic tax credits; a mixed-use, new construction project in downtown Durham, North Carolina with a condominium structure providing for retail and parking on lower floors and 82 affordable units above; and the planned conversion and rehabilitation of the former Fort Snelling military barracks in Minnesota (which was designated as a national landmark and located within a state park) into 191 affordable units for families with a preference for veterans using low-income housing and historic tax credits.

Highlights: Prior to joining Applegate, I represented and advised clients in a wide variety of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, development projects, commercial leasing, and finance in both large and small firm settings.  My prior experience includes projects involving office buildings, a golf course portfolio, residential developments, retail spaces, hotels, industrial developments, and mixed-use properties.  I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business and Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, where I was coordinating Note and Comment Editor for the Northwestern Law Review.  I clerked for the Honorable John D. Butzner, Senior Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Illinois Bar
• Member, American Bar Association, Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development